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Seurallinen Pitkä Ahkera
Overview Seurallinen is an experienced Kotimaan smith based in New Masselburg on the east coast of Deurlyth. He is a very social individual who loves meeting new people and helping others, usually with a grin on his lips. While he in most cases is a friendly and gentle individual he can, if provoked, lose his temper though that is luckily not common. Having lived for his whole life in the Kotimaan countryside he can be nervous in larger groups and he always speak fondly of his homeland. Maybe a bit too much to his friends' annoyance. Appearance: While Seurallinen has many different types of clothes for different occasions he usually wears a light-blue shirt, as seen on the picture to the right, as well as thick gloves to cover the many burns that he has gotten on his arms in his work. He wears a plain grey wool tunic underneath his shirt. Usually wearing heavy - looking boots the sound of his steps as he walks is a bit louder than normal. A thick and finely braided beard covers a large portion of his chest, going almost the whole way down to his waistline. He has a very rectangular face with clearly cut lines and a low cheekbone as well as a somewhat large nose and pale light-blue eyes. While his face may look a bit brutish at a first glance his often cheerful and positive mood counteracts his otherwise brutish look. Personality Likes: * Helping others to the best of his abillity, as long as the person in need shows some respect or kindness in return of course. * Hiking. Seurallinen loves to go out wandering for hours or even days in the forests and mountains of Kotimaa and now Deurlyth as well. He has therefore learned a few tricks concerning how to survive in the wilderness on his own. It is not uncommon for him to bring with him friends on these journeys. * Smithing. Being able to spend hours perfecting even the slightest detail in his work. Seurallinen sure loves his craft and spends a great deal of time engulfed in it. * Socializing. Being a relatively charismatic individual Seurallinen loves talking to people, no-matter their origins. He takes a lot of initiative in conversations and he is not soon to offer a smile if the situation arises. * His religion. Seurallinen is a very devout follower of the Kotimaan religion of Äiti ja Isä, "mother and father", praying multiple times a day and doing his best to uphold the Kotimaan traditions and ideals in their name in his life. Thereof his conservative view on most things in life. Dislikes: * Homosexuality. While Seurallinen does not neccessarily 'hate' homosexuals he will be very cautious when it comes to talking with them, not speaking to them if neccessary and never ever befriend one. He believes homosexuality to be "a betrayal of their family line" as he puts it. Though this is an opinion that he will not likely divulge to anyone, not even to close friends. * Horses. After a very unpleasant event were Seurallinen almost drowned due to a horse he never rides a horse himself, prefering solid ground beneath his feet instead. While he do show respect and understanding to those who do like horses he will kindly decline all offers for him to actually ride a horse. * Werewolves. Due to a quite horrifying experience he has a deeply rooted distrust and anger to all Werewolves (as long as they are not willing to either kill themselves or face a life in solitude). Befriending or even talking to a known werewolf is out of the question other than when showing the werewolf his contempt which he if given the opportunity certainly will. Quirks: * Whenever Seurallinen thinks hard he usually fiddles with his long beard as he does so. * Even though he may have a slighlty intimidating figure he usually talks in a gentle and friendly voice. * Seurallinen rarely drinks anything else other than Sima and if he does it is usually tea of some kind, especially nobughitan tea. * He adores cats completely, especially kittens. Dogs on the other hand, are not as kindly viewed. * Being a Kotimaan, Seurallinen gets very easily burnt in the sun due to his naturally pale skin which also makes it hard to hide his blushing as well as other emotions. Known Associates ("†" denotes a person or persons that are deceased) Friends: * Vak'Dral * Melody Varian-Riverek * Tansy Riverek * Pelokas Mieli * Tulipalo Violet Mieli * Genevieve Bell * Julina Aelium * Madelyn Vangrave * Galya * Mulla Family: * Uskollinen Ahkera (brother) * Seraphina Velasquez (fiance) Acquintances: * Faris al-Rashid * Lillith * Jude Anderson * As'ad al-Tabish * Alex Jones † * Pyrnix Mieli * Ezalyn Mieli * Rodrik Wisse * Altor Onuson * Iris J. Spruce * Henri Riverek * Chloe Evenstar Dislikes: * Ozan Bahkiir * Sion Raffi Enemies: * Dakaria Onuson * Luja * That guy he had a fight with in Driftwood three years ago (you know who you are...) Background The village Seurallinen grew up in was very isolated, being far from any other village and their Elterlein overlord’s watchful gaze. Therefore foreign influences were kept to a minimum which meant that the Kotimaan traditions and ideals could flourish unhindered. Each and every inhabitant of the village had accepted their current situation and chosen to make the most of it producing a village were both kindness and politeness to each and everyone within the village was a fact, though that was often not shared towards the few strangers who made their way to their isolated homes, especially if they were from outside of Kotimaa though that rarely happened. Before Seurallinen moved to Deurlyth he had never eaten any foreign dish or even talked to a foreigner to just give an example. While Seurallinen’s younger brother Uskollinen knew what he wanted to work with for the rest of his life at an early age Seurallinen had a much harder time deciding. His father who in the beginning excitedly tried to make him engaged into the family business of raising and selling animal and farming produce soon realised that Seurallinen shared little talent about domestication or farming. He would much rather spend time skiing in the mountains either on his own or with his brothers or just philosophizing on his own than work in the fields or in the trade. Seurallinen’s father who was growing disgruntled and worried about his now 12 year old son’s inability to decide on his own future did everything in his power to make him come to a decision. Many heated arguments came as a result. They even made the journey to the regional capital where Seurallinen was tested in his fighting ability by the local, primarily Elterlein, garrison to see if he was a potential soldier but they soon discovered that while Seurallinen was strong and broad-shouldered even for a Kotimaan he lacked dexterity completely, therefore making him unsuitable as a soldier. Having explored all reasonable options Seurallinen’s father gave up and he left Seurallinen to his own devices which he was not slow to exploit. For several years onwards life went on as usual without too much happening until one day a lone Kotimaan man entered the village. To the other villagers surprise he confessed to be a smith named Luja looking for a place to set up a forge. The village who had not had a smith for many decades gladly allowed him to stay in the abandoned forge in the village square which he then renovated and opened for the public. While he may have been greeted warmly, the villagers were still wary of him, In comparison to the village’s size his customer base was small just because of that initial skepticism. Being one of the few in the village who had the courage to talk to this stranger and befriend him Luja became as close to a second father as humanly possible to Seurallinen and they spent a lot of time in each others company even though Luja was more than thrice his age. It was mainly due to this and the fact that talking to an outsider like him was seen as odd that they kept their friendship in secret though most people in town suspected that it existed nonetheless. Seurallinen’s father was therefore not surprised when his son asked him whether he could take on the role as Luja’s apprentice. While his proposal in usual circumstances would have been rejected instantly Seurallinen’s father instead accepted with a wide grin, he had begun to worry for Seurallinen and was therefore glad to see that there was a future for him, even if it was outside of the family business working for an outsider. Seurallinen who at first seemed to be a completely hopeless case when it came to smithing eventually turned into a promising apprentice under Luja’s tutelage, making tools and equipment with a quality far beyond what could be expected of an apprentice his age. All the while their friendship grew closer as the years passed by. It was also during this time that Luja opened Seurallinen’s eyes to the religion of Äiti ja Isä which even though most people in the village were followers of was not worshipped extensively as the teachings of The Holy Light, a religion which had come with the Elterlein invaders, recently had gained a strong foothold in Seurallinen’s home village. Seurallinen soon grew to become a firm believer in Äiti ja Isä and a fierce defender of the Kotimaan traditions adopting his tutors conservative view of the world which he still maintains to this day but maybe not as extremely as he did before. During this time Seurallinen and his brothers, one of them being Uskollinen, grew very close even though their ages varied a lot. It was not uncommon for them to be away for days hiking in the mountains on their own far away from their parents watchful gaze. Seurallinen was close to his sisters as well though not as close as his brothers, they never came with them on their frequent hiking trips for example. As soon as Seurallinen reached the age of 18 his parents started talking about his future marriage. Seurallinen felt no need to get married anytime soon to his parents great disappointment. While there were women his age who showed their interest in him, Seurallinen never showed any interest back let alone started a serious relationship with one. He instead politely and with his usual smile dismissed them. His parents then took it upon themselves the duty of finding a suitable bride for him by inviting distant relatives with unmarried daughters to their home in the hope that one would catch Seurallinen’s interest which never happened. For many years this continued but his parents soon came to realise that it was all unfruitful and let him be on his own, disapointed in his unwillingness to settle down. He eventually moved out of his parents large cottage to the outskirts of the village and rented a small house which was still quite close to the forge where he continued to work underneath Luja, eventually becoming a fully-fledged smith of more skill than his tutor himself. Though the dream of finding that special one always linger in the back of his mind, boiling up to the surface in times of weakness. Often working from dawn till dusk Seurallinen engrossed himself in his work instead. He could often be seen working from dawn till dusk and not meet another human being, except for maybe Luja, for days being solely focused on his work which definitely could be seen in the quality of his work. Having customers from all of the nearby villagers and the local Elterlein government, his work was widely known as being of a high quality. Though sadly Seurallinen himself did not see much of that wealth or fame. Luja, who had been a father figure to him took much of the payment and the credit for himself to Seurallinen’s deep annoyance with their friendship taking a big hit as a result. That may have been the reason as well as the fact that he had not spoken with his brothers for a long time that Seurallinen made the decision which changed his life more than anything else. Seurallinen was 25 when he came up with the idea of climbing one of the largest mountains in Kotimaa with his brothers. They were all experienced mountaineers and had all climbed with each other before on multiple occasions but they had never climbed anything as large as what they were planning on doing now but Seurallinen was able to convince them nonetheless. For a whole month they planned their journey before leaving in late spring 1184, his older brother leaving two young children and a wife behind. At first it all went great with not even the slightest hint of trouble. They were all taken back to the times in their youths were they had all been close as peas and had a wonderful time together. When they finally arrived to the mountain, a day earlier than planned, they were all humbled by the magnificence of the mountain they were going to climb but pressed on nonetheless assured as they were that they were going to succeed in their endeavour. The climb up the mountain went very well even though the sheer massiveness of the mountain as well as the large amount of snow that covered the upper parts of the mountain made the climb take longer than they first thought it would. Thrilled at having succeeded they all walked back down in a glad mood but only a couple of hours later, disaster struck. Taking the same way as they had taken up to the mountaintop they walked across a large glacier which was now vulnerable after the constant exposure to the sun which slowly begun to melt the ice, destabilizing it. Arrogant as they were for having climbed to the top they did not take as much care as they did when climbing up the first time. Exactly who was responsible is still unknown but something that is for certain is that suddenly the ground gave way and Seurallinen fell into a hidden ice ravine underneath the ice cap. Being lucky enough to not fall all the way down Seurallinen still broke a couple of ribs as well as some other minor injuries during the descent. For an hour or two he just laid there in an almost unconscious state before finally summoning the energy needed to take a look around, none of his brothers were in sight. With great pain he climbed all the way up to the surface and exhaustedly threw himself down onto the snow, going unconscious almost immediately. He did not wake up until later that day in a small camp his brothers set up at the foot of the mountain, having dragged him all the way down. They then told him the news with tears in their eyes.That their older brother had fallen into the ravine and not been seen since then. Shocked at the news Seurallinen was filled with survivor's guilt and grief from the lost of his brother though he was not willing to let on that feeling but instead stoically took the news and comforted his younger brothers. With heavy hearts they made their way back to the village and let on the news to the rest of the village as well as his brother’s wife and their children. Since that day Seurallinen’s usual smile ceased to appear and every time he met a family members the guilt returned making it almost unbearable to meet them. With the guilt and grief making it hard to look his family in the eyes as well as Luja’s behaviour towards him, Seurallinen one day decided to just leave it all behind him. Without telling anyone beforehand Seurallinen left the village one quiet night. He has not returned since. Yet. After leaving, Seurallinen roamed Kotimaa in the look for a place far away from his home village as to not have to be reminded of the event and a place where he could set up a forge himself and don’t get recognized, but that was easier said than done. Most villages of large enough size to support a smith already had a smith and those who did not were too small to support one. It was only after a lot of consideration that Seurallinen made the hard decision of leaving Kotimaa to Deurlyth where he could hopefully find a place to call his own. Important Events *26 Deep Cold 1156: Seurallinen Pitkä Ahkera is born in Kotimaa. *Deep Cold 1183: Seurallinen arrives to Hearth, Novania. *Bright Dawn 1183: Seurallinen buys a forge in New Masselburg where he sets up his forge. Other *Seurallinen is played by "hadddock" *His full name is Seurallinen Pitkä Ahkera which can be translated to "Gregarious Tall Diligent". *Seurallinen has a nickname, Seur, which is what most people call him. *He is actually an imported and slightly edited version of a dwarf character from another roleplay server. *Seurallinen speaks in a very thick and somewhat peculiar Kotimaan accent. Face Claim: http://i.imgur.com/8M4XFPM.jpg Category:Characters